The crown jewel of lost but not completely forgotten hikes around Golden has to be the Howse Pass trail from the Columbia valley side, it has all the elements of an ‘epic’ adventure: hard to get to, hard to follow, and hard to find information about. In 1978, under the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada the minister responsible designated the Howse Pass as one 7 mountain passes with national historic significance The last recorded maintenance to the trail was done in 1993 and currently holds ‘abandoned trail’ status according to some online sources.
Historically, the trail was a used as early as the 18th century by the Ktunaxa to gain access to the Buffalo herds on the plains east of the Rockies, and was first explored as a trading route in 1807 by David Thompson and the North West Company. The trail was used as a trading route from Rocky Mountain House to the Columbia Valley until 1810, when the Athabasca Pass trail (currently the Icefields Parkway area) became the route of choice to avoid conflict with the hostile Pikani seeking to block trade with their rivals.
